Big Ten divisions are announced

How the Big Ten Conference will be divided into two, six-team conferences is expected to be announced soon. FILE PHOTO

The Big Ten announced its divisional breakdown for football, and Ohio State and Michigan will be in different six-team divisions when the league expands to 12 members in 2011.

Neither division has been named, but they break down like this: Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Michigan State, Minnesota and Northwestern in one; Ohio State, Penn State, Wisconsin, Illinois, Purdue and Indiana in the other.

A consistent "crossover game" will be played by each squad every year, which will maintain the Ohio State-Michigan and Minnesota-Wisconsin rivalries.

Michigan and Ohio State will continue to play in the Big Ten regular-season finale, as they have since 1943. That means they could wind up meeting again for the conference championship a week or two later.

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